See what the Chamber has been up to over the past few weeks and what has been happening in the community. From policy to politics there is plenty to choose from when trying to figure out how to be more involved with our advocacy efforts.

Please remember to join the Policy Committee for its November meeting. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 17 at 9:30am in the Manassas Chamber office.

If you have any questions about legislation or are just generally interested in what we are working on at the Chamber, please get in touch with me by sending an email to BShaw@pwchamber.org. I am happy to discuss!

Prince William leaders said the future of the region is ripe for economic growth, and that is also one that will continue to be hampered by traffic congestion.Who says close in, urban mixed-use environments are all the rage? A market report from the Washington office of Colliers found a "surprising divide" in vacancy rates between Northern Virginia office submarkets inside and outside the Capital Beltway at the end of the third quarter.

Despite expectations that millennial-popular features such as walkability and amenities would have the highest impact on performance, outer submarkets such as Reston, Herndon, Loudoun County, and Prince William County outperformed some of more walkable inner submarkets.

"The commercial real estate industry has been focused on submarkets where investors and landlords are expressing angst over softening demand. Perhaps for that reason, few have tracked that Prince William County has the lowest vacancy rate of all the jurisdictions we track and that, with the exception of 2013, demand has been positive in Prince William every single year over the last ten," Colliers International Director of Research Rob Hartley said in a statement.

Colliers calculation of office vacancy rates for all of Northern Virginia came in at 18 percent, roughly equivalent to the 17.9 percent vacancy rate tracked at this same time last year.

For Prince William, the Colliers report said third-quarter vacancy rates improved from 13.4% in 2014 to 12.1%. This compares with 13.4% in Reston-Herndon, 18.5% in Tysons, and 22.7% in Rosslyn-Ballston.

Colliers said that while third-quarter demand for office space grew across Prince William, Reston-Herndon, and Loudoun County, demand shrank in the inner submarkets, with the exceptions of Crystal City and the Eisenhower Avenue corridor, which has gained large new leases from federal agencies.

In part, an influx of new product contributed to higher vacancy rates inside and along the Beltway, where 6.5 million square feet of space has been added since 2010.

"Federal budget uncertainties also contributed to softer demand in inner submarkets, where landlords have been unable to backfill space that was vacated when the government and government contractors downsized their footprints. Outer submarkets have faced little to no challenges in backfilling available space due to increased demand," Hartley said.

Prince William Chamber to Host Prince William Board of County Supervisors

On Monday, November 16, the Prince William Chamber of Commerce and Whitlock Wealth Management will host a reception for the incoming Prince William Board of County Supervisors. Join us to congratulate the Board on their recent elections and strengthen vital connections between local elected officials and the business community.

Make sure they know you, your business, and how
public policy in Prince William County is impacting your business growth!

The event is free to attend and will be held from 5:00pm-7:00pm at Glory Days Grill in Woodbridge. Whitlock

2015 Prince William Region Election Results

After many months of campaigning, on November 3 we went to the polls t
o choose representatives for both state and local offices. Congratulations to our newly elected Prince William representatives! Thank you for your dedication to our community.

The next policy committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 17 at 9:30am at the Prince William Chamber of Commerce Headquarters. The committee typically meets for an hour.

This month we will be joined by representatives from VRE who will be discussing the Gainesville/ Haymarket route extension. Click here for project details.

We will also report back from our working groups and present our finalized 2016 policy priorities.

As a reminder, "Membership Time" is held at the beginning of every policy committee meeting. We are continuing to ask that members help identify areas where we can work together and initiate change on various levels of government. If you are interested in participating please come prepared to address your issue and we will do our best to assist!